A MORE NATURAL ARTIFICIAL EYE

Case Western Reserve University’s Eric Baer, PhD, and his colleagues have created an artificial lens that mimics a healthy 5-yearold’s eye.

The Gradient Refractive Index lens, or GRIN lens, gradually bends light as it passes through layers of two kinds of polymers, each just nanometers thick. Every one of the polymers has a different refractive index, which means light travels through them at different speeds.

Unlike eyeglasses, the lens can maintain focus across its surface—in practice, to the corners of the eye—and also can focus near and far.